Traditions and Changes at the 2023 Arts and Letters Ceremonial

Like most longstanding formal ceremonies, the annual American Academy of Arts and Letter Ceremonial is an extremely tradition-bound event, but this year’s iteration had more noticeable differences than most.

Written By

Frank J. Oteri

Frank J. Oteri is an ASCAP-award winning composer and music journalist. Among his compositions are Already Yesterday or Still Tomorrow for orchestra, the "performance oratorio" MACHUNAS, the 1/4-tone sax quartet Fair and Balanced?, and the 1/6-tone rock band suite Imagined Overtures. His compositions are represented by Black Tea Music. Oteri is the Vice President of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) and is Composer Advocate at New Music USA where he has been the Editor of its web magazine, NewMusicBox.org, since its founding in 1999.

Hundreds of denizens of the music, literary, and visual arts communities gathered together yesterday for the American Academy of Arts and Letters annual Ceremonial yesterday in New York City. The Ceremonial, an annual ritual for well over a century, is a roughly two-hour presentation of awards and inductions (which always takes place on a Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 pm and is immediately followed by a reception at 5:00 pm). Like most longstanding formal ceremonies, it is an extremely tradition-bound event. So much so that anytime there is even the subtlest change in the proceedings, it feels extremely significant (e.g. the size of the program booklet which this year was far less unwieldy). This year’s iteration had more noticeable differences than most despite it marking the 125th anniversary of the institution as well as the centenary of it being based in Harlem at an opulent Beaux-Arts complex of buildings that also houses Boricua College as well as the Hispanic Society Museum and Library.

For starters, due to ongoing renovations taking place in the Academy’s historic auditorium, this year’s ceremonial took place off site. (Apparently the last time that happened was in 1942 although, of course, the in-person Ceremonial was replaced by virtual events over Zoom during the height of the pandemic.) It was nevertheless held in an equally stunning location, the Gothic Revival main sanctuary of the landmarked Episcopal Church of the Intercession, built in 1912-15, which is conveniently located one block south enabling attendees to return to the usual location for the reception, outdoors between the Academy’s two art galleries, although this year they decided not to cover the space with a giant canopy. For some reason, it usually rains on the dates when the Ceremonial is held, so that canopy comes in handy. True to form, it rained again this year, but it was only a slight drizzle toward the very end of the festivities and most people appreciated chatting in the open air.

Crowds of people conversing, drinking and having snacks at an outdoor reception.

Removing the giant canopy definitely gave the post Ceremonial reception on the campus of the Academy a much more open atmosphere (photo by FJO)

But these details are all cosmetic. Of greater significance was the broad range of people who were honored this year in all of the disciplines. Chilean poet and visual artist Cecilia Vicuña and pre-eminent Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov were inducted as Foreign Honorary Members. Only Americans can be elected to full membership, and the Academy also inducts as honorary members Americans whose creative activities fall outside its three officially-recognized disciplines. This year, film director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Frances McDormand were inducted in this category, although neither could attend; they join the ranks of Woody Allen, Bill T. Jones, and Alice Waters, among others. Kurkov later gave the Blashfield Address, an annual oration which in some years has been a struggle to stay awake through, but his impassioned words about the ongoing horrors taking place in his homeland were powerful and deeply moving and resulted in him receiving a standing ovation from the attendees.

Kurkov’s standing ovation following his deeply moving Blashfield Address during the 2023 Arts and Letters Ceremonial at the Church of the Intercession (photo by Michael Spudic)

Also, worth noting here, were the presentation of two Gold Medals plus an Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts, which this year was given to photographer Susan Unterberg, founder of Anonymous Was a Woman, a program that awards unrestricted $25K grants to female-identifying artists over 40. The Gold Medal, the Academy’s highest accolade, is a lifetime achievement award voted on by the full membership of the Academy that is restricted to the Academy’s membership. Literary critic Helen Hennessy Vendler was awarded the Gold Medal for Belles Lettres and Criticism and 92-year-old painter, sculptor, quilter, and performance artist Faith Ringgold, who was there, received the Gold Medal for Painting after which she said she needed to leave soon so she could go create more work, to which the audience responded with resounding applause.

Of course, of greatest concern to the readers of this publication are the music honorees and their range this year was particularly noteworthy. Six composers were newly inducted as members of the Academy by Augusta Read Thomas. We are particularly proud that all six of them have been featured in extensive conversations elsewhere on these pages: Adolphus Hailstork, Carman Moore, Roger Reynolds, Maria Schneider, Wadada Leo Smith, and Pamela Z.

Pamela Z waves her induction certificate as Augusta Read Thomas and others applaud her.

Augusta Read Thomas inducts Pamela Z into the American Academy of Arts and Letters at the 2023 Ceremonial. (Photo by Michael Spudic)

David Sanford presented awards to 16 different composers, 14 of whom were there to receive them. The year’s award recipients were selected by a committee of Academy members: Julia Wolfe (chair), Annea Lockwood, David Sanford, Christopher Theofanidis, Augusta Read Thomas, Chinary Ung, and Melinda Wagner. Eve Beglarian, David Serkin Ludwig, Nicole Mitchell, and Roscoe Mitchell (who could not attend) each received an unrestricted $10,000 Arts and Letters Award which is supplemented by an additional award of $10,000 earmarked specifically for the recording their music and having it presented in a concert at the Academy. Shih-Hui Chen was the recipient of the Walter Hinrichsen Award which covers the cost of the publication of one of her scores by C. F. Peters, and Robert Honstein received the $10,000 Andrew Imbrie Award which honors the work of a mid-career composer. Andy Akiho and Zosha Di Castri each received a Goddard Lieberson Fellowship of $15,000 which is also awarded to mid-career composers. The two recipients of this year’s $15,000 Charles Ives Fellowships were Charles Peck and Peter Shin, and the six recipients of $7,500 Charles Ives Scholarships were Seare Ahmad Farhat, Jordyn Gallinek, Luke Haaksma, Ali Can Puskulcu, Harriet Steinke, and Bethany Younge (in absentia).

John Harbison then presented two awards to two pairs of operatic collaborators. Operas were nominated for these awards by the Academy’s members, and winners chosen by a jury comprised of members John Harbison (chair), Anthony Davis, Tania León, Tobias Picker, and Shulamit Ran, who met in 2022. Composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek were each the recipients of a $10,000 Marc Blitzstein Memorial Award in recognition for both the body of operatic work they have created together and the works they have created with others. Harbison remarked that they could not be at the Ceremonial to receive their awards because they are currently at work on a new opera (in Paris). Composer Laura Elise Schwendinger and librettist Ginger Strand were both in attendance to receive the Charles Ives Opera Prize for their 2019 opera Artemisia, which is about the extraordinary life of 17th century Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi. As composer, Schwendinger received $35,000, and Strand, as librettist, received $15,000.

Finally, Mindi Dickstein presented two Richard Rodgers Awards in Musical Theater (which help to cover the costs of staged readings at non-profit theaters in New York City) to the bluegrass and folk-infused musical Lewis Loves Clark featuring music by Dylan MacAurele and book and lyrics by Mike Ross and to the surreal, post-Apocalyptic Marie in Tomorrow Land featuring music by Erato A. Kremmyda and book and lyrics by Maggie-Kate Coleman. The members of this year’s jury were David Lang (chair), Lynn Ahrens, Kristoffer Diaz, Mindi Dickstein, Amanda Green, Michael R. Jackson, Richard Maltby, Jr., and John Weidman. The Richard Rodgers Awards are the Academy’s only awards for which applications are accepted.

As per always, the post-Ceremonial reception was a joyous see and be seen mingling event for Academy members, award recipients and invited guests spanning the various artistic disciplines honored by the Academy. It is one of the only times that members of each of these communities come together in such a way and as such will always be an event to look forward to each year.